Once upon a time, a perfect life, once upon a perfect world.

Category Archives: In my inbox

For those of you interested in awareness and gender issues, there is a Harassmap team brainstorming session this Saturday.

The organising team is honoured to invite you for a meeting at Rebecca Chiao’s place next Saturday 26th of March 2011. The meeting agenda will include discussing marketing strategies for Harassmap, new slogans & new approach…etc.

Attending will be highly appreciated in order to brainstorm and come up with new & unique ideas that would help us to reach our target audience in the current phase.

Anyone interested in helping is welcome to attend.

The meeting will be at 1pm at the 4th, Osman Ebn Affan street, off Geziret El-Arab st. the last floor.

Looking forward seeing you next Saturday.

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The article below was written by Professor Karim Abadir. I find his view interesting albeit excessively optimistic. I am sharing the article for your reference as I will soon be posting a Q&A discussion between me and him about it. Cheers.

Any revolution is bound to have an impact on the country where it happens, and often beyond its borders. But not all economies are identical and there is no single format that can be used to assess the impacts of such momentous events. I am writing this piece about the near-term impact that the Egyptian revolution will have on the economy. One of the arguments I will use needs stressing: the well-known vulnerabilities of the Egyptian economy will actually work in its favour in the case of the current revolution, vulnerabilities such as excess reliance on tourism, on output from natural resources such as oil, etc. In this article, I am focusing on the near-term impact and refraining from looking further into the future. There are more gains to be made later with changes in economic policy, but they are not for this article.

Before I proceed, we need to draw a distinction between national income accounts and a “balance sheet” that measures the stock of wealth if ever a robust measure of this existed. Current income is undoubtedly going to be lower now, because of the reduced economic activity. But this is normal: the bad UK weather this December brought its economy to a standstill and turned its growth negative for that quarter! Both are temporary effects. Though I like snow, I’d much prefer a revolution that sets a country on the right path and unleashes the creative talent of its people and generates the goodwill that all sections of Egyptian society have started displaying, energies that can be harnessed for the good of the country after the transition to a reliable leadership for the future.

It was a peaceful revolution. The country’s facilities have not been damaged in any noticeable way. When production of goods and services restarts, it will be quickly back to normal levels. Furthermore, if (as expected) corruption levels are lower, more of the resources that are currently being leaked out of the economy in favour of a few individuals will actually be accounted for and will remain part of the economy and circulate within a virtuous circle of activity creation, hence benefit Egypt.

The same goes for tourism, where all the sites remain intact. The revolution has earned the admiration of the masses abroad and, this on its own, will generate extra tourism to the country where the first Facebook revolution took place! There is one more historical place to visit in Egypt, the Square that is truly a Liberation Square.

The damage to the financial side will also be temporary. The valuation of companies whose directors are involved in financial scandals will collapse, but these are companies that are not widely held by the middle and lower income groups, something that is also true of the stock market at large where some initial contagion will take place but it is inevitable that prices go down and up. Good companies have nothing to fear and much to look forward to, as I will explain in the next paragraph. From a wealth point of view, the damage into the future will be limited to a small group of shareholders whose consumption is a tiny chunk of the economy. But their investments are substantial and this can have a negative impact if the new government mismanages the handling of their assets. The government may seize these assets but should not attempt to run them as a going concern. It should also not use its currency reserves unwisely.

A company going bust does not mean that its business is gone for the economy: some other company could buy the stock or step into the breach and take the opportunity as a new entity. Even better, corrupt monopolies, duopolies, etc. (such as the steel industry) can be replaced by more competition, and this is good for the economy and its development.

A lot of investment was in real estate, much of it was speculative, affecting prices and valuations of property but not leading in any meaningful way to an increase in the national income that we mentioned earlier. A reduction in these valuations is not the end of the economy, as some interested parties are currently circulating.

With increased financial transparency and less corruption, genuine investments and businesses will actually be encouraged to come to Egypt. This will not happen overnight, but Egyptians build for eternity.
——–Karim M. Abadir (http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/k.m.abadir) is Professor of Financial Econometrics at Imperial College London. He is credited with predicting the timing of the recent global recession and the subsequent diverging patterns of recovery in the US and Europe.

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Hmm, okk, I realise how cliche, sappy and cheesy this is. Yet it totally reflects my current mood.

An aircraft flying through the clouds suddenly loses its balance. A wealthy older man is sitting next to a small boy. Gripped by fear he prayed to God each time the plane hit an air pocket. The boy meanwhile, was sitting there very calmly playing with his toy. Somehow the plane managed to land safely. Out of curiosity the man asked the boy, “How is that when all others older than you were filled with fear and panic you were calm and playing happily?” The tiny boy replied “My dad is the pilot. I KNEW that he will take me down safely.” 🙂

Love is trust indeed people.

A shout out to precious ones and a thank you for their love and their trust.

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Hey there. You an avid soccer fan living a hectic life with no time to keep up for all your favourite team? Are ya??

I’m a Chelsea fan, at least I would be if I had a chance to see their matches. Ouff, feeling sorry for my case, or posssibly just to gloat Tottenham’s near victory over my beloved team (just kidding, guy is a sweetheart) sent me the solution.

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1. You used to buy cassette singles… and still have some stashed somewhere
2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton
3. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.
4. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own. 5. You owned those lil’ Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls (or your sister did).
6. You know that “WOAH” comes from Joey on Blossom
7. Two words: Hammer Time!
8. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars… and spokey-dokies or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect
9. You watched “Duck Tales” (Woo ooh!)
10. You (your sister, cousins) wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
11. You saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen..and still know the turtles names.
12. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.
13. L.A. Gear….need I say more?
14. You know the profound meaning of “WAX ON, WAX OFF”
15. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us…head-to-toe)
16. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
17. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
18. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
19. You still get the urge to say “NOT” after every sentence.
20. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
21. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
22. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.
23. You have ever played with a Skip-It or Elastix
24. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.
25. You’ve gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
26. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.
27. You wore socks scrunched down
28. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
29. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.
30. You know what it meant to say “Care Bear Stare!!”
31. You remember watching Rainbow Bright and & My Little Pony Tales
32. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.
33. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
34. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool…and don’t even flinch when people refer to them as “NKOTB”
35. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on “Saved By The Bell,” The ORIGINAL class.
36. You know all the words to Bon Jovi – SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
37. You just sang those words to yourself.
38. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)
39. You had a mullet!
40. You still sing “We are the World”
41. You owned a bannana clip.
42. You had big hair and you knew how to use it.
43. You’re still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren’t you!